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CHeMnICORn

Never Gonna Grow Up
100 Watchers273 Deviations
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I saw @Phraggle doing this challenge, so I thought I'd give it a go. It seemed like it could be therapeutic.




1. A genre or style I've tried and decided isn't for me:

Anime. I drew way too many Pokemon when I was young, and now I can't seem to get certain aspects of it out of my style!


2. A common art advice I find hard to follow:

"Draw all the time." Because dishes, laundry, potty training, and yard work don't take care of themselves! It's all I can do to make sure I have enough creative energy for my comic commissions at times.


3. My biggest art-related fear:

That I'm wasting my time. That everyone would be happier if I stopped stretching myself thin and just focus on life.


4. A project I've been putting off:

My personal webcomic. I'm trying to make more time for it, but it's hard to give it focus when I have could get more commission work done faster instead. Still, it's hard to ONLY work on the commissions. Drawing is supposed to be for ME at the end of the day.


5. A subject I feel like I'll never master:

Hands, and the view of the face that is looking downward.


6. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate my skills as an artist as a:

Definitely a 6. I'm probably better than the average Joe/Jill, but I don't see myself ever being able to compete with anything on ArtStation. I'm learning a lot as I go though. I just should have learned it a lot earlier in my life.


7. A subject or theme I avoid in my art:

Anything that would be inappropriate to show to my kid. This includes politics. (I stop following artists that get too political).


8. The most challenging project I've ever worked on and why:

Getting into comics in general, actually. I had never expected that I would actually be doing this, and I have had to teach myself a LOT to become any bit efficient.


9. How I deal with creative blocks:

I used to just stop and not draw for a day or two, but I would always regret not practicing at all. I could feel the stiffness in my hands. Nowadays I keep more than one drawing going at once so I'm not burning out on the same thing all the time, or I pull out the grown-up coloring book that I was gifted and just color. It at least keeps my hands primed for when my brain is ready to go. Unless I'm just purely exhausted. Then, if possible, it's NAP-TIME.


10. A skill I stopped learning... and have no regrets:

I can't say I ever really stopped learning a skill. I like to learn, so that's not really in my nature. I have some skills that are on hold though, due to lack of time. Currently, crochet and mini painting are on the back burner, since my time and financial resources are short, though I keep thinking I will start doing a little mini painting on the weekends.


11. How I handle criticism and feedback:

The only criticism or feedback I get these days is from my client, Coywolf Peak. Since the focus is on working together to make something great it's just part of the process. I take what I'm given and try to make adjustments that fit the vision. Occasionally I will justify something that needs to stay, but most of the time I come up with a couple of ways to move forward that work for both parties.


12. My biggest motivator as an artist:

My passion comes from traditionally animated films, particularly Disney films from the 90s. The pure focus on learning to imitate life using such an artistic medium was inspiring! However, my biggest motivation to succeed has become my child. Having so much of myself absorbed by my family makes me extra determined to hang on to who I am! I also want our kid to see me chasing what I love as inspiration to do the same.


13. A skill I have that unfortunately won't pay the bills:

Mini-painting. I'm no pro, but I'm better than baseline tabletop quality. I just don't have the speed or the time to make it profitable.


14. A project I abandoned and why:

Pretty much every story I ever started writing. I had all these ideas for stories that I would act out in my head when I was young, but over time I realized just how embarrassing it would be to actually share them with anyone. I have language processing issues, AND I was wAAAY too 'Mary Sue' at the time.


15. A color I rarely use and why:

Orange. It's just not a favorite. Most of my contract work these days is in black and white, but when I draw for myself I just rarely pick orange. I like blues and purples when I can help it.


16. My hobby or interest that always competes with art:

Video games have been a distraction since I was in middle school, but simultaneously they have been a source of inspiration. I don't actually play video games nearly as much as I used to when I was younger. Gardening/prepping for gardening on the new property, however, is a MAJOR distraction for me nowadays. I'm just so content to be outside in the sunshine doing wholesome things with my hands that my little drawings don't seem as important at times. I still need to draw, though, because it's like therapy for my brain if I can get around to drawing more than just my contracts.


17. A place I feel the most creative:

Anywhere quiet that I can get uninterrupted time with my own thoughts. With a husband, child, and two large dogs, that can be a major challenge to achieve at times.

18. A place I feel the least creative:

In the kitchen. Before I had to go on a restricted dietary regimen, and before we had a kid, I would occasionally enjoy cooking. These days I am in the kitchen so much that I'm just trying to get out of there as fast as I can! It's soul-sucking.


19. The most unexpected inspiration for my art:

My own internal challenges. I never expected that I would create the venting pieces that have come about over the last 15 years of my life, nor did I expect I would start keeping note of experiences for the personal webcomic that I have in the works. When I was younger it never felt okay to feel the way I do, but this is going to be my way to get there: by celebrating the joyful parts AND hard parts of building our family, and how it has changed me.

20. My main challenge as an artist this year:

Trying to balance my time. The house we bought the July/August before last is bigger than our last, and has an actual acre to work with, so balancing chores has been a challenge. On top of that is trying to care for and teach a toddler, and on top of that is the dogs we adopted during this last summer, and then TRYING to not neglect my husband. At a minimum I still manage to get my contracts done, but I need to build at least a little time into my day to draw ANYTHING else. For the sake of my growth, AND for the sake of my own projects.


Oh yeah, and on top of THAT I have our neighborhood HOA calling on me to do things like design the logo for the sign at the front of the street, and painting the little children's library that will go at the end of the cul de sac! LIFE IS TOO BUSY MAKE IT STAAAAP! XD

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I hope you all were able to celebrate the holidays with the people you love! I feel so blessed that I was able to have family visit TWICE in the past month or so. Needless to say, it kept me pretty busy, but I'm so glad that the kiddo was able to have SO much fun!


This year looks pretty uncertain for me right now. I've been having to figure out some health symptoms, and am praying fervently that the scans I had done this week are favorable. On top of that the hubby was just laid off from the job he has had for 9 years, so I'm trying to do what I can to help him work on getting reemployed. He has a great resume, so I don't doubt that he will find something. My brain still likes to go down the rabbit hole of the pain it would be if we had to move away from the home we just moved to less than two years ago, since have worked so hard to get where we are. Either way, I know our little family will be okay as long as we are together, though it may not mean keeping the two dogs we adopted. It's too early to say, so we'll take it one day at a time.


At least I am still getting regular comic commissions from Coywolf Peak LLC, so I can focus on getting those done quickly to boost our income. I plan to post a couple more pages from last year's commissions soon, and if I can work on prioritizing, maybe I can start sharing what I have for my personal web comic so far. I will be keeping pretty busy, so I apologize if my updates are extra slow. I know I don't keep up with a lot of the better artists out there in terms of how much content they post, but I still keep hoping I will eventually get to the point where I can post weekly. It's so hard to tell, since being the mother of a quickly growing child makes it so hard to predict how I will have to prioritize each day, so I appreciate all of you who have stuck around this long!


Peace and gratitude to you all!

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Once again, I apologize for the delays. No one ever hassles me about it, but I do wish I was able to post content more frequently. I do actually have a small backlog to post, but I have been holding off until I have my newer Instagram account caught up to my DeviantArt and LinkedIn accounts.


We were hit by hurricane Idalia, so we got to deal with a six day long power outage. Others in our community have only just gotten theirs back. Thankfully, the house that we bought a year ago didn't sustain damage. Just the fence. The hubby, the kid, and the two dogs we adopted a couple months back are all healthy and safe. Any extra expense is painful for me right now unfortunately, since we have had SO many expenses to deal with since we moved, so having to fix the fence is just one more weight on my mind. I will be so grateful to work on another work order for Coywolf Peak later this month so that the hits don't hurt quite so much. Please pray for those of us struggling to keep our budgets right now as the cost of groceries continues to rise.


During the break I have been on since the last work order was available I have been teaching myself Blender so I can help out with a video game idea that my hubby, his brother, and a friend are all working on. It's been like pulling teeth trying to find a walk-through that teaches in a way that clicks for me, but I FINALLY have a grasp on how to model something low-poly, and my initial attempts at the infamous "Donut Tutorial" have given me enough insight to start polishing from there.


To those who have been following, I appreciate your interest SO much! I am a low-energy introvert who really struggles with maintaining an online presence, so thank you for sticking it out with me as I muddle my way through. I am hoping to post a teaser to a personal webcomic I would like to get properly started soon, and hopefully in a way that I can post it somewhat consistently, but I plan to take baby steps as best I can, since I still have a lot of responsibilities in regards to taking care of our property and keeping the family healthy and fed. I WILL have more to post in the semi-near future!

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Hi all! I keep wanting to be able to do things like Inktober and MerMay, but the sheer number of drawings and the desire to measure up to the quality of the other artists participating makes it really hard for me to keep up the motivation. I tend to process things more slowly than a lot of people. Combining that with a sense of perfectionism when I know how much I don't keep up with my peers means that I tend to produce finished art more slowly in general. It's something I want to improve on, but month-long daily, FINISHED sketches don't seem to actually help me right now. Not when I'm still in the middle of trying to set up a new house and new yard, while I'm simultaneously managing my toddler and any other family affairs that pop up. (There has been a SURPRISING amount of work and money required to get things the way we would like it.) I struggle to take a moment to just to quick sketches of the things I need to improve on just because of the time and effort it takes to just PICK what I'm going to work on. I just can't seem to prioritize in that regard.


That being said, I have not been absent from my art. I have in fact been busy on more comic pages commissions from CoyWolf Peak, LLC, and I should be able to post them for you soon. I am finding that as I get better at comic page layouts it is still taking me a while to do each one, especially as I continue to find new ways to do it. My current contract will wrap up at the beginning of May, which should leave me at least SOME time for other art projects. I'm still going to be quite busy around the house, especially with guest coming for a weekend, but I would like to think that I can make time for ONE finished Mermay picture, if not more. I am simply not in a place to do daily sketches again.


I really hope to prove other parents wrong and to not have life keep getting MORE busy, but it's a fight I feel like I'm losing. Time will tell. In the meantime, I can at least enjoy all the wildflowers on our property.... right before my toddler picks them. ;-;

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Slow going

1 min read

Art has been slow lately. I still have a couple of things to share, but we all got sick in our house for quite a while, and I didn't have the creative energy to do much. It has also taken me some time to figure out how to layout my personal comic. I am making progress though!


It's a new experience for me to write the comics myself. I need to make sure that I write and layout my comics a bit better. I assumed that I could squeeze my first subject into a four panel comic strip, but it has evolved into what might be three pages! Pray/wish me success!

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Featured

Leaving? Maybe not.... by CHeMnICORn, journal

Official Comic Progress INCOMING! by CHeMnICORn, journal

So much for that! by CHeMnICORn, journal

MerMay! by CHeMnICORn, journal

Busy Busy! Video game in the works! by CHeMnICORn, journal